The convenience of wireless network connections, namely the convenience to maintain a communicational connection without physical attachment, has resulted in broad adoption of wireless networking technology. In particular, the vast majority of modern portable computing devices comprise some form of wireless communication hardware or wireless communication capabilities. As a result, because of the ubiquity of such capabilities, wireless networks have, likewise, been widely adopted and implemented. While the implementation of wireless networks in users' homes, and by their places of employment, enables users to enjoy the convenience of wireless communicational connections where they live and work, users are also increasingly coming to expect such conveniences when they travel. Significantly, many retail establishments offer wireless networking functionality for their patrons and visitors. For example, hotels and coffee shops often advertise that they provide wireless networking functionality and seek to distinguish themselves upon that basis. Increasingly, however, other retail establishments, such as restaurants, grocery stores, auto service centers, shopping malls, and professional services establishments also offer wireless networking functionality for their patrons and visitors.
The advantage to users of retail establishments offering wireless networking functionality is that those users can utilize that offered wireless networking functionality to access one or more computing devices that are communicationally coupled to a network to which the wireless networking functionality is also communicationally coupled. In particular, the wireless networking functionality typically offered by retail establishments enables users to access information available via the ubiquitous Internet and World Wide Web (WWW). Thus, users of the wireless networking functionality typically offered by retail establishments can, when they are communicationally coupled to such wireless networks, browse the Internet and WWW, visit one or more webpages and websites, and interact therewith.
While retail establishments can advertise their provision of wireless networking functionality in general, and can seek to entice customers to their establishments on such a basis, they are limited in their ability to utilize such functionality to directly target advertisements to their customers. Some retailers offer free wireless networking functionality but then limit the utilization of such functionality to only allow users to obtain information associated with that retailer. For example, an airport could offer free wireless networking functionality, but can limit users of such functionality to only obtain information provided by the airport, such as by limiting those users to only being allowed to visit a website that is hosted by the airport and that provides information relevant to the airport, such as arrival and departure information. While such an idea may work well for an airport, visitors to other retail establishments may be disappointed when the wireless networking functionality offered by such a retail establishment only enables those users to visit that retail establishment's webpage, for example.
In some cases, a “landing page” may be presented to users seeking to access wireless networking functionality. As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, such a landing page can be a webpage that is presented by an access point, or other like device that is sourcing the wireless networking functionality, that can act as a mechanism, or interface, through which a user can be prompted to accept certain terms and conditions of the utilization of the provided wireless networking functionality, or through which a user can be prompted to enter authentication information, such as, for example, if the provided wireless networking functionality is protected. Such a landing page can be utilized to target and deliver advertisements to visitors of a retail establishment, though, in practice, such an idea is only practical for single-establishment retailers. For example, an owner of a single coffee shop, that has only one wireless access point providing wireless networking functionality to its customers, could implement such an idea, and have that single wireless access point present a landing page that not only acts as a gateway to accessing the wireless networking functionality, but that can also provide advertisements to a user, such as, for example, a listing of daily specials. A nationwide coffee shop chain, however, would be required to individually implement such functionality on every single access point in every single retail establishment that is part of such a chain throughout the entire country. As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, such an effort is likely to cost more than any attendant benefit derived therefrom and, as a result, is not likely to be undertaken.